Flag of Syria

Meaning and history of the flag of Syria

Syria's flag consists of three equal horizontal stripes of red, white, and black from top to bottom, with two green five-pointed stars centered on the white middle stripe. The colors are pan-Arab and represent the great dynasties of the Arab world: red for the Hashemite Caliphate, white for the Umayyad Caliphate, black for the Abbasid Caliphate, and green for Islam and the Fatimid Caliphate.

This flag was adopted in 1980 and is identical to the one Syria flew between 1958 and 1961, during its union with Egypt in the United Arab Republic. The two stars originally stood for Syria and Egypt as the union's two members. The flag closely resembles Egypt's, which bears a golden eagle (the Eagle of Saladin) instead of the two stars, and Iraq's, which carries the inscription "Allahu Akbar" in Kufic script on the white stripe. It also bears a strong resemblance to the former flag of North Yemen. These similarities reflect the ideals of Arab unity that drove 20th-century pan-Arabism.

You can view the flag of Syria in high resolution above and download it in several sizes for personal, educational or reference use. To explore more, visit the full Syria profile, its map, or the current local time in Damascus.